A receptacle connector, comprising a plurality of contacts, an insulator supporting the plurality of contacts, and a shell material, is disclosed by Taiwan patent publication No. TWI258897 (corresponding to a China patent application No. CN02141109.3 and an U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,177). The shell material forms a shell surrounding the plurality of the contact and the insulator and defining a connector interface. The distinguishing feature of the connector lies in that the shell material is further formed with a partition mechanism arranged to partition the connector interface into at least two interface portions, one of the interface portions has a shape different from a shape of another interface portion. Therefore, the connector may be used for mating with various types of mating connectors with different shapes of interface. According to a shape of the interface of the mating connector mating with the connector, the mating connector may engage one of the interface portions of the connector or a combination of the interface portions of the connector. For example, a mating connector with a large size may engage the entire connector interface, but a mating connector with a small size may engage one of the interface portions of the connector.
Although the partition mechanism may partition the connector interface into a plurality of interface portions, but the partition mechanism will occupy a certain space, so that a total length of the connector along a transversal direction becomes longer. There is an improved room in how to further decrease a volume of the connector.